EC

EC is leaving facebook.

A huge thanks to everyone in-house for taking such a big step. We might be a small company, but that doesn't mean we can't act.

There is a lot on the go for us this year including making some changes in how we are present in our community. One of which will be our removal from Facebook as a business, and it's associated platforms.

We help companies with data security every day, and information is power. Power for criminals, power for governments, power for business, power for marketers, power for anyone. And what is done with that power varies greatly with the nature of those who possess it.

This not a political statement for us, and we understand the apparent hypocrisy in advertising on Google as opposed to Facebook. Or posting on LinkedIn. We still live in the same world as you and need to navigate it.

What we are trying to do is better, because we fail everyone by doing nothing. We will leave this post up for a period of time before unpublishing our page.

If you are interested in learning more about how social media (and facebook in particular) affects communities then follow the links below:

TechCrunch: https://techcrunch.com/2021/11/08/facebook-on-the-spot-in-kenya-as-exploitation-of-minors-rife-on-its-platform/

Arstechnica: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2021/11/metaverse-will-bring-facebooks-privacy-problems-to-workplaces-whistleblower-says/

Washington Post: https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/10/25/what-are-the-facebook-papers/

National Post: https://nationalpost.com/news/world/facebook-will-fuel-further-unrest-whistleblower-tells-u-k-parliament

A whistleblower’s power: Key takeaways from the Facebook Papers Interviews with dozens of current and former employees and a trove of internal documents show how Facebook inflamed real-world harms.

H&R Block delivers scalable, multichannel tax preparation services with Microsoft SQL Server 2017 The tax industry has changed a lot recently, and H&R Block made plans to stay ahead of the changes, providing seamless multichannel experiences and unifying its disparate data sources to better serve its customers. By moving its various workloads to Microsoft SQL Server 2017 and Microsoft Azure and....

Last week, T-Mobile revealed that they were a victim of a highly sophisticated cyberattack that impacted more customer data than initially thought. The company reported last Friday, Aug 20th that the personal data of more than 5 million additional customers were compromised bringing the total number of people impacted to over 50 million.

This attack compromised current and prospective customers including names, personal information and social security numbers.

Think about how compromised data like this would affect your business. What would the costs be to recover? What would happen to your business reputation?

As cyberattacks become more malicious, numerous and complex in it's nature, cybersecurity should be the forefront of your business.

Safe guard your data today, let EC take a look at your current back-up and recovery strategies. It's not an 𝘪𝘧 a breach happens, it's 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯.

September 7th is the start to phase 4 of BC's reopening plan which means the following in accordance to BC's guidelines:

✔️ Return to normal personal gatherings and social contact
✔️ Return to normal sport competitions
✔️ Increased outdoor and indoor spectators
✔️ Increased capacity at large organized gatherings, like a concert

To say we've been waiting for this moment after what feels like years is an understatement. I'm sure your all dying to get out and break your new "normal" routine whatever that may be.

At EC we had teams come back to the office this month to exercise a hybrid-workplace and we know our community of partners are all gearing up to be back in local arena's as early as this month!

To our partners at the BC Lions, Vancouver Whitecaps and the Vancouver Giants, we look forward to seeing you all very soon.

When we ask people what the primary goal cybercriminals have when preparing a targeted ransomware attack, the response is often, “For the organization to pay the ransom.”

However, this just isn't the case. The result of organizations paying ransoms is painstakingly clear. You will likely receive more high-profile attacks with even more devastating impacts. Despite this, for many organizations, there is a strong temptation to pay the ransom. Once they do, their data is again available and operations can resume. Keep calm and carry on... right?

Unfortunately again, we're hit with a hard no. What so many people from some of the largest organizations incorrectly assume is cybercriminals are only interested in receiving a hefty ransomware payment, then they are off to their next unsuspecting target. You may be relieved once you've rid yourself of ransomware but the true costs of the attack and its long-term impact are usually unknown. The bottom line is that your data is worth protecting and you should do everything in your power to ensure security.

Back-ups and recovery shouldn’t be an “after-the-fact” but an ongoing and continual plan should be mapped out in place to keep your organization fully secure. It’s not if an attack happens, it’s when that you should be prepared for. Contact EC today, we recommend a 3-2-1 backup system and strong recovery response plan.

You can read about it here in our blog: https://ecmanagedit.com/what-is-the-3-2-1-backup-rule-for-data-protection/

Windows Virtual Desktop is a great tool to help you optimize your productivity and security, wherever you are located. Check out the power of virtualization when you work remotely with Windows Virtual Desktop and contact EC to learn more!

Understanding the Virtual Environment Microsoft continually innovates to empower best-in-class experiences, no matter where you're located. Learn how you can maximize productivity in the virtual environment with Windows Virtual Desktop.

Is your organization still working remotely or have you adapted to a hybrid-workplace solution?

If you answered yes to either of those, Microsoft offers inspired collaboration through integrated capabilities and consolidated platforms. In this short video, learn how features can keep your team engaged and secure while working from anywhere.

Solution overview video This video highlights the many ways Microsoft Teams can help your business inspire collaboration, reduce costs and risks, and deepen engagement.

Microsoft is warning users of a new phishing attack that is known to be 'sneakier than usual'.

After observing an active campaign targeting Office 365 organizations with convincing emails and several techniques to bypass phishing detection, Microsoft put out an alert. This phishing attack included an official Office 365 phishing page, Google cloud web app hosting, and a compromised SharePoint site that urges victims to type in their credentials.

"An active phishing campaign is using a crafty combination of legitimate-looking original sender email addresses, spoofed display sender addresses that contain the target usernames and domains, and display names that mimic legitimate services to try and slip through email filters," the Microsoft Security Intelligence team revealed on Twitter.

Phishing attacks have skyrocketed with the prevalence of remote working, and have become one of the major threats within businesses today. Contact EC if your unsure if an email is a phishing scam or if your staff need training on best practices when it comes to cybersecurity.

With BC opening up we wanted to take this opportunity to highlight our community and partners at the Vancouver Giants

Langley Events Centre, the Vancouver Giants organization was named a community partner in Fraser Health's vaccination program. LEC has now helped to vaccinate close to 100,000 people. We thank you for all that you do for our community that we are so lucky to be a part of.

The Giants will be back and playing out of the Langley Events Centre WITH fans this October and we can't wait!

📷 taken from Langley Events Centre

Several major websites briefly went down this morning as a widespread outage linked to Akamai, an internet security giant that provides networking and content delivery services to companies.

Akamai, whose operation helps data move around the internet, said on its website earlier Thursday that it was investigating “an emerging issue with the Edge DNS service.”

The Domain Name System (DNS) is like a phone book for websites. The technology figures out the right IP addresses to use when people try to go to individual websites. DNS services are critically important to how the internet works, but are known to have bugs and can be easily manipulated by malicious actors.

A large chunk of the internet dropped offline Thursday morning including Delta Air Lines, British Airways, Capital One, Go Daddy, Vanguard, UPS, LastPass, AT&T and Costco, with websites failing to load or was showing “DNS failure”.

The outage caused some real-world disruptions, here's what Akamai had to say: "We have implemented a fix for this issue, and based on current observations, the service is resuming normal operations. We will continue to monitor to ensure that the impact has been fully mitigated.”

has so many different unique features and they're always finding new innovative ways for businesses to run in a time like this. From tagging notifications to planner scheduling, watch this company's success story and contact EC Managed IT to see what Teams can do for you!

CWPS uses Microsoft Teams to reimagine sales project workflows How can your organization benefit from Microsoft Teams? Learn from Frank Lusko, the EVP of Sales and Marketing at CWPS, to hear how his sales team has benefited from this collaboration tool through features such as notification alerts and planner scheduling.

Our team attended over the last few days and are extremely excited about the new Windows 365 Cloud PC launching in early August.

With hybrid work in mind, the new Windows 365 will allow you to securely stream your Windows experience with full features including apps, content, and settings from the Microsoft cloud to any device or any user, anywhere!

Check out this video by Microsoft, giving you an exclusive sneak peak of the new Windows 365: https://www.microsoft.com/en-ca/windows-365?rtc=1

Windows 365 Remote Desktop, Cloud PC | Microsoft Stream your desktop, apps, settings, and content from the Microsoft cloud to your devices and have a personalized Windows experience wherever you are.

Many of you are aware of the massive recent cyberattack on Kaseya that happened over the long weekend but for those of you who aren't...

Kaseya has a US headquarters in Florida but maintains a presence in 10 different countries. They provide MSP's with various software as a service including VSA, a unified remote-monitoring and management tool for handling networks and endpoints. In addition, the company provides compliance systems, service desks, and a professional services automation platform.

According to Kaseya over 40,000 organizations worldwide use at least one of their software as a solution so you can imagine the complexity and high risk associated with this particular cyberattack.

This brings us back to the critical point and importance cybersecurity has on your business. With the increase in cyberthreats and depth of hackers you should work with someone that takes security seriously.

EC Managed IT is CyberSecure certified through the Government of Canada, meaning we follow best practices in house and have undergone a rigorous audit. It’s not to say threats won’t happen but we have the best processes in place to help mitigate cybersecure attacks and to ensure that you are getting the absolute best IT support when it comes to protecting your business.

No individual or organization is immune to cybercrime, but some are definitely targeted more frequently.

Across businesses, cybercriminals look for exploits in sectors with either the most to lose in terms of financials or data, or they target sectors with the least protection.

Unsurprisingly amongst this list, the top industry targeted by cybercrime in 2020 was financial services. Some other industries that cybercriminals also focused on are manufacturing, energy, and retail as they were forced to quickly shift to digital channels because of the pandemic, but without a real roadmap and the time to adapt and safeguard.

Contact EC today if your organization had to make a shift within the last year and we'll help you stay resilient and prepared for the future.

https://ecmanagedit.com/request-consultation/

Are you and your team taking full advantage of Microsoft Azure SQL Server? Learn why this choice is the perfect one for your next project. Get an inside look at some of its unique new features from a member of the Azure SQL PM team:

10 reasons to use Azure SQL in your next project | Developer's Corner There are many database technologies available on Azure that you can choose from. Why would you use Azure SQL? There are so many new solutions, some very specialized and super cool, so you may be wondering why I’m telling you to use Azure SQL in your next project.

EC Managed IT has been partnering with post-secondary institutions in the Lower Mainland to help provide co-op students with work in the IT industry as part of their degree program and to help our teams with some of our customer-focused practices that provide our clients with the utmost and unparalleled support.

We want to introduce you to Saahib! He is entirely new to EC and is our latest addition to our Service Delivery Team! He is currently finishing his degree at Kwantlen Polytechnic University and is working with EC Managed IT as part of his co-op work term. We're so excited to have him and see his skills develop here at EC.

Drop a comment below to help us give Saahib a very warm welcome.

When you migrate to Server and SQL Server on Azure, you take the pressure of management off your teams and free yourself up to spend more time creating. Watch this video to learn more about the benefits of this solution and contact us today to find out if Azure is right for your business.

https://stuf.in/b64xrt

Solution overview video Learn about the features and benefits of migrating to Windows Server and SQL Server on Azure. This video discusses key aspects such as preventing the loss of valuable data and getting the lowest cost of ownership.

Users continue to love due to their versatility and ease of use as a collaboration and chat hub-- as well as its privacy and security!

Whether you're new to Teams and need a basic quick start guide, or you're already using Teams and want to make sure you know its capabilities—you'll want access to this Teams quick start guide!

Teams quick start guide Whether you are new to Teams and need to learn the basics or you are using Teams and want a handy reference, this Quick Start Guide for Teams is a must-have-close-by-tool. It includes start up necessities, such as buttons, tabs and channels, but also includes the how-to tasks you need to know only w...

Some of you have already met Mit. He joined our Service Delivery Team back in March of 2020. Since then he has been actively developing his professional knowledge and preparing himself for a new opportunity at EC Managed IT that we are so excited to share with you!

The growth we've seen in Mit makes him the perfect candidate for our new IT Technician position that recently opened up. This is what we love seeing in our team members and watching them excel-- move up in positions is something we widely acknowledge as a company who wants to see their employees succeed.

Congratulations Mit, from the entire team at EC!

Many of you may be aware of the recent cyber-attack on the US oil & gas pipelines, but what does this mean to us from a cyber security stand-point?

This cyber-attack could easily become one of the most expensive attacks to an economy. After a ransomware attack on Friday, Colonial Pipeline had to shut down its network.

Sources said the ransomware attack was likely to have been caused by a cyber-criminal gang called DarkSide, who infiltrated Colonial's network and locked the data on some computers and servers. It was reported that 100 gbs of data was kept hostage and was threatened to be leaked.

The FBI worked with private companies to respond - the cloud computing system the hackers used to collect the stolen data was taken offline on Saturday, Reuters reported.

"Quickly after learning of the attack, Colonial proactively took certain systems offline to contain the threat. Temporarily halting all pipeline operations and affecting some of our IT systems, which we are actively in the process of restoring," the firm said.

This cyber attack indicates that essential services may be more vulnerable to widespread cyberthreats. Cybersecurity is becoming a corporate strategic challenge, requiring the highest level of oversight in the complex global industrial environment.

Happy Friday! We want you all to meet Lakshmi.

Lakshmi joined the EC family just 2 weeks ago! She is fresh off the heels of BCIT’s Technical Support Professional program— a program that we have historically seen bring in awesome team members! She is also bringing over 4 years of experience in customer-facing roles, and we are confident that she is a great addition to the Service Delivery Team and are so excited to have her!

Drop a comment for Lakshmi if you have any questions for her or just want to give a proper warm welcome 😊

Nearly half of Canadian workers are experiencing daily burnout.

The graphic below is provided by Microsoft Work Trend Index, showing just how much time on average we are spending in meetings, chats, emails sent and the number (to no surprise) is continually increasing.

So this begs the question... are you still working from home? If yes, are you experiencing burnouts and are you happy with the way your work from home is set up? We want to know and help you make the most of this situation. Comment below or send us a DM to start a conversation.

According to IT World Canada, researchers say that due to under reporting true ransomware figures, the number could be up to four times as high!

"The average ransom paid in the last 12 months was $170,404. The number of organizations that paid a ransom increased from 26% in 2020 to 32% this year."

Despite all these statistics and warnings from cyber and IT experts, many organizations in Canada still haven't gotten the message.

EC continues to remind you to be PROactive when it comes to staying protected, not just for your business and avoiding high recovery costs but it should be a priority to make sure your staff and customer data are protected as well.

You can read the full article here: https://www.itworldcanada.com/article/researchers-says-due-to-under-reporting-true-ransomware-figures-could-be-four-times-as-high/446701

Contact EC today to see how we can keep you protected.

Researchers say due to under-reporting, true ransomware figures could be four times as high | IT World Canada News As more incidents are revealed experts urge firms to tighten their cybersecurity, particularly the basics

Happy Friday! We haven't done an employee appreciation post in a while so we thought we'd take this opportunity to introduce you to Saket.

Saket is our newest account manager and team member within our Business Solutions department, all the way from Ontario! We truly appreciate him for moving to the West Coast to be a part of the team. Saket has been with EC for just over a month now and it's been great seeing new faces in the office (we have a few more exciting hires to share with you in the weeks to come).

He has over 7 years of account management and client care experience while having a wealth of IT knowledge through his Bachelors of Technology in IT and previous roles as an IT professional-- making him the perfect candidate for this new role here at EC.

Drop a comment below to say "Hi" to Saket and warmest welcome to the team from EC Managed IT.

Meet the newest addition to our office! Who says people who work in I.T. can’t be fun 🤪🙈

Cybersecurity: A Small Business Guide - businessnewsdaily.com Hackers, scammers and other digital malcontents aim to do your SMB harm. With this cybersecurity guide, you can stand as a bulwark against cyberattacks.

These stats were taken from Microsoft themselves.

"91% of cyberattacks start with a phishing email".
"15% of phishing attack victims fall victim a second time"

Don't fall for these scams. Protect your business, people & data.

Talk to EC Managed IT today, we can help you stay ahead of attacks and train your employees on awareness.

https://ecmanagedit.com/request-consultation/

As COVID-19 continues to keep people working remotely, it’s becoming increasingly important to help your team feel connected.

With isolation, social distancing, and stay at home mandates, it’s easy for individuals to start to feel disconnected and discouraged. Giving your team the resources to stay connected can help and Microsoft Teams can be one of those resources.

Not only can Teams help you continue to run your business as smoothly as possible during this challenging and uncertain time, it can also bring your team together. With features like one-on-one chats or instant group messages, colleagues can easily keep in touch—making up for the missed watercooler conversations.

Meetings can also run smoothly with sharing
features and chat windows so everyone can be included. Collaboration is also made easy on Teams where multiple people can work together on a single project.

During this challenging time EC is here for you. Please reach out with any questions and we will be happy to support. If you're not on Microsoft 365 already and utilizing Teams, EC highly recommends you do so. Contact us today!

https://ecmanagedit.com/request-consultation/

Did you know that technology is helping to protect and save our oceans? With cloud security and communication tools, has exponentially increased their outreach and efforts to keep our oceans healthy and thriving. Although we may not all have as cool of a job as Jack, we can all utilize Microsoft 365 for business and EC can help you do so!

Want to see how the latest security tools can help grow your business? Contact our team at EC Managed IT to get started today!

https://stuf.in/b5mguw

Customer story: Jack's Diving Locker Jack's Diving Locker, a scuba diving and snorkel educational facility, uses Microsoft 365 Business to securely run their business and to streamline their outreach efforts. Since adopting a cloud-based security and communication solution, its founders have grown their business from five sets of gear....

Cloud technology is here to stay. Here are 3 things EC recommends you consider when moving to the cloud (f you haven't already).

Almost all businesses go through a natural cycle that includes periods of robust growth as well as lulls. However, when businesses upgrade to cloud technology, they no longer need to play guessing games with their long-term IT infrastructure needs. Cloud software unlike on-premises solutions, is fully scalable. We can adjust your cloud resources at any time.

𝟏. 𝐏𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐦

𝟐. 𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐨𝐬𝐭-𝐬𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐡𝐧𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐲

𝟑. 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐝𝐨𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐡𝐲𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐜𝐥𝐨𝐮𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐧-𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬

Connect with EC Managed IT today to learn more about how migrating to the cloud can help your business.

We are Azure certified and have Microsoft gold competencies when it comes to cloud computing. EC can help determine if you're ready to switch completely to the cloud, or if a hybrid works better for your company, and how to build your cloud infrastructure for success.

Happy Easter weekend! EC Managed IT wishes you all a safe and happy long weekend.

We are closed today for Good Friday and back on Easter Monday (April 5) for our regular hours of operation.

Sure we provide managed services and IT solutions but what sets EC apart from other MSP's is the consultative aspect we give to all of our clients. This is only the beginning of our efforts in providing expertise and unparalleled support.

We want you to be able to make informed decisions best suited for your business and we are in your corner every step of the way!

We know that for some businesses, real-time updates of their facilities and equipment is essential. Saving time is saving money, but it's just as important to maintain site safety. It's also known that cloud-based software can most efficiently manage large volumes of data. That's where Microsoft fits the bill.

Watch how a company such as Lizo can meet all of their customer needs, including cost savings. Connect with EC Managed IT today for more information about .

https://stuf.in/b5erhb

Lizo | Digital transformation in the oil & gas industry: improving on-site safety Safety is a priority for companies, especially those working in industries where a few seconds can mean a significant deficit for thousands of customers. This time we show how companies such as Lizo partner their apps with Microsoft Azure for instant status updates of facilities and equipment that a...

Cloud service providers can play a key role in the modernization of app development simply by using open-source databases on the cloud, reducing time-to-market. This is helpful since more and more consumers are using apps not only for social networking, but for news, food, information, and more.

Read "Bringing Apps and Start-ups Together" below, and connect with EC Managed IT for more SMB content.

https://stuf.in/b5ehhh

Bringing Apps and Start-ups Together Cost is a prohibitive factor for every SMB and they need service providers who can help them deploy applications quickly and cost-effectively

Keep track of where your employees are and be able to communicate with them from anywhere through Microsoft Teams. Check out this short video to see how it's effectively Teams has helped Clifton Coffee.

Customer Story: Clifton Coffee | Work From Anywhere Clifton Coffee Roasters always had far-reaching ambitions. They needed to maximize efficiency in their company and create a better way for employees to communicate, no matter where they were individually located. With Teamwork solutions from Microsoft, their employees could work from virtually anywh...

Phishing is a popular form of cybercrime because of how effective it is. Cybercriminals have been successful using emails, text messages, direct messages on social media or in video games, to get people to respond with their personal information.

I'm sure you are all aware of the spike in phishing scams since COVID and moving to a global remote work force. It was reported that there was a 350% rise in phishing attacks. As we're 3 months into 2021, attackers are likely to persist and find new ways to exploit vulnerabilities as the world anticipates news on the vaccine and ways to navigate the “new normal.”

The best defense we can recommend is awareness and training your employees to know what to look for.

See this video below provided by Microsoft for best practices and actionable steps when it comes to phishing.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/videoplayer/embed/RE4EIXC?pid=ocpVideo0-innerdiv-oneplayer&postJsllMsg=true&maskLevel=20&market=en-us

If you were trying to file or access your taxes over the weekend you may have experienced some issues with CRA, some users even have been locked out of their accounts.

The CRA says they locked out 800,000 accounts "out of an abundance of caution and to prevent unauthorized access after email phishing schemes and third party data breaches may have resulted in access to user information". This does not mean there indeed was a breach but is considered normal operations since the CRA carries some of the most important and personal data there is.

"The time to implement two factor authentication was last summer after the first security event - not months later - and then only making it optional for Canadians." This is such a great example of why EC always recommends having two-step authentication processes set in place.

Read the full article from CTV below:

https://lnkd.in/gaJCgBQ

Experts call on CRA to 'get serious' about cybersecurity after 800K users locked out as a precaution Security experts are called on the Canada Revenue Agency to increase cybersecurity efforts after some 800,000 Canadians awoke to an email informing them they had been locked out of their accounts in the midst of tax season.